Dudies in Venezuela
Thanks Lynx. I shot these as a favor to my friend, who wanted some really nice pictures of Lana.
More about Lana later on. Her visit was no small event!
I wanted to share another little incident that occured the other day. I often believe that we don't give our pets enough credit where it concerns resilience or intelligence. We care, provide for them and train them, but rare are the people that truely consider a tiny guy like a guinea pig a thinking being. The problem with animal intelligence though is that most of it is projection and behavioral conditioning, rather than true reasoning. How do you discern between the two? Is it even possible?
Mammoth for example watches tv with us. That night it was Hannah Arendt, and while Hannah struggled with the criticism of her report on the Eichman trial, Mammoth had his own issues. For the first half hour he was fine. Then he started to lunge inwards towards his belly more and more. We never bother putting up a blanket. Our guys just tug our clothes when they have to go, pee or poo, even if the blanket is there. Finally Mammoth stood still for a few second, as if he seemed to think what to do, and then gave my shirt a solid little tug. When I put him back, a little poo was stuck in his belly fur. I felt that he wanted to stay, but that the idea of staying with us with a dirty poo was unbearable to him.
Some pictures of Bizonte in his favorite position when he's with us: on top of things or people! I always thought he could be such a great guard piggie.
Girl, this eye-stuff is the best thing for keeping the mustaches shiny!
More about Lana later on. Her visit was no small event!
I wanted to share another little incident that occured the other day. I often believe that we don't give our pets enough credit where it concerns resilience or intelligence. We care, provide for them and train them, but rare are the people that truely consider a tiny guy like a guinea pig a thinking being. The problem with animal intelligence though is that most of it is projection and behavioral conditioning, rather than true reasoning. How do you discern between the two? Is it even possible?
Mammoth for example watches tv with us. That night it was Hannah Arendt, and while Hannah struggled with the criticism of her report on the Eichman trial, Mammoth had his own issues. For the first half hour he was fine. Then he started to lunge inwards towards his belly more and more. We never bother putting up a blanket. Our guys just tug our clothes when they have to go, pee or poo, even if the blanket is there. Finally Mammoth stood still for a few second, as if he seemed to think what to do, and then gave my shirt a solid little tug. When I put him back, a little poo was stuck in his belly fur. I felt that he wanted to stay, but that the idea of staying with us with a dirty poo was unbearable to him.
Some pictures of Bizonte in his favorite position when he's with us: on top of things or people! I always thought he could be such a great guard piggie.
Girl, this eye-stuff is the best thing for keeping the mustaches shiny!
Thanks! Yes, little Lana is the cutest. I wish I had more pictures of her, but I had to clean up my harddrive to save some space, so I deleted most. I'll populate this post with some other random pictures.
Lynx, you can use any picture you like in the thread for the calendar. If the quality is too low, let me know and I can redo most with a better camera. Taking out the big camera is a bit of work, so I prefer taking pictures with the point and shoot.
So Kate set Lana loose in the pigpen. Mammoth seemed to recognise the smell straight away. He immediately went up to her, did a little nose to nose and then quietly and gently tried to mount her. Despite his gentleman attitude, Lana wasn't impressed and ran away immediatly at a not too fast, but solid pace, chased by Mammoth, who also wasn't trying too hard. I always thought that in the end, they could have gotten along perfectly fine.
But then Bizonte came to check out what the fuzz was about, and after thoroughly smelling the air for the strange new odor, locating it little princess Lana, he went berserk. Lana by that point was allready running from Mammoth, but Bizonte joining in made the little courting game a chase for the dignity of little Lana. She ran and ran through the pen, chased by Bizonte who didn't hide his intentions at all. We decided to take her out of the piggie area before she could get pregnant.
Nothing happened to little Lana, but the damage to my boys had been done. Nothing prepared me for the days that followed.
Lynx, you can use any picture you like in the thread for the calendar. If the quality is too low, let me know and I can redo most with a better camera. Taking out the big camera is a bit of work, so I prefer taking pictures with the point and shoot.
So Kate set Lana loose in the pigpen. Mammoth seemed to recognise the smell straight away. He immediately went up to her, did a little nose to nose and then quietly and gently tried to mount her. Despite his gentleman attitude, Lana wasn't impressed and ran away immediatly at a not too fast, but solid pace, chased by Mammoth, who also wasn't trying too hard. I always thought that in the end, they could have gotten along perfectly fine.
But then Bizonte came to check out what the fuzz was about, and after thoroughly smelling the air for the strange new odor, locating it little princess Lana, he went berserk. Lana by that point was allready running from Mammoth, but Bizonte joining in made the little courting game a chase for the dignity of little Lana. She ran and ran through the pen, chased by Bizonte who didn't hide his intentions at all. We decided to take her out of the piggie area before she could get pregnant.
Nothing happened to little Lana, but the damage to my boys had been done. Nothing prepared me for the days that followed.
I like the last photo of Bizonte staring reproachfully at you.
And poor little Lana.. :(
One of my friends guinea pigs who was only about 4-5 weeks was put in with about a 2 pound male and sadly got really hurt and pregnant. :( So I'm glad you took your boys out before little Lana got hurt or pregnant.
And poor little Lana.. :(
One of my friends guinea pigs who was only about 4-5 weeks was put in with about a 2 pound male and sadly got really hurt and pregnant. :( So I'm glad you took your boys out before little Lana got hurt or pregnant.
Thanks Khloe! Yes, the last thing I wanted was my boys impregnating little Lana.
This week was pretty eventful for my boys. Finally I found a proper routine to bathe them both together in the quickest and less painful way for everyone involved. Bizonte still doesn't like it.
Since I can't find anyone in my household anymore to help me with trimming the nails, I found a chinese volunteer in a friend who popped by, who held both the piggies firmly for me to cut their nails. Yey. They still don't like it though... and after the bath and the nailtrim, they hid in their favorite fleece blanket.
Little did they know that that night, they would sleep in a fenceless area. I pulled up the cables from the floor in my office, removed the fence and put a lower fence structure in the door, which is just high enough for them to realise that they shouldn't leave the room. Mammoth doesn't seem to care much, but Bizonte, who at food time is the first at the fence, and every morning runs his laps, allready explored every little corner.
This is so much easier for me to clean too.
This week was pretty eventful for my boys. Finally I found a proper routine to bathe them both together in the quickest and less painful way for everyone involved. Bizonte still doesn't like it.
Since I can't find anyone in my household anymore to help me with trimming the nails, I found a chinese volunteer in a friend who popped by, who held both the piggies firmly for me to cut their nails. Yey. They still don't like it though... and after the bath and the nailtrim, they hid in their favorite fleece blanket.
Little did they know that that night, they would sleep in a fenceless area. I pulled up the cables from the floor in my office, removed the fence and put a lower fence structure in the door, which is just high enough for them to realise that they shouldn't leave the room. Mammoth doesn't seem to care much, but Bizonte, who at food time is the first at the fence, and every morning runs his laps, allready explored every little corner.
This is so much easier for me to clean too.
Absolute cutest behavior from Mammoth this morning! I always give both of them a quick brush while my computer is starting up, to minimize the hair left in the washing machine and to make them get used to me.
When I put the brush aside, Mammoth started licking and nibbling my fingers. I moved away to type something, but he reached for my hand and put his little paws firmly on it while I tried to calm him down. More licking and nibbling, untill after about 5 minutes, he put his little head down in my hand and fell asleep. The picture woke him up.
I never know if the licking is out of care of for the salt. Maybe I should get a salt stone to see the effect? I don't know: I read mixed opinions about salt stones... and I have the impression Mammoth allready has heart difficulties. I wouldn't want to increase them.
When I put the brush aside, Mammoth started licking and nibbling my fingers. I moved away to type something, but he reached for my hand and put his little paws firmly on it while I tried to calm him down. More licking and nibbling, untill after about 5 minutes, he put his little head down in my hand and fell asleep. The picture woke him up.
I never know if the licking is out of care of for the salt. Maybe I should get a salt stone to see the effect? I don't know: I read mixed opinions about salt stones... and I have the impression Mammoth allready has heart difficulties. I wouldn't want to increase them.